With an ability to splash the cash for any player that takes their fancy, City seemingly have less need to construct a reservoir of young talent than most other Premier League clubs.

But with a new 80-acre training complex soon coming on line and UEFA’s £50m financial fair play fine leaving a sizeable dent in Sheikh Mansour’s bank balance, then there remains an incentive to nurture home-grown talent.

Certainly, City used to be the envy of their rivals for an endless stream of youngsters coming out of the Platt Lane Academy set-up.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joey Barton, Micah Richards, Glenn Whelan and Nedum Onuoha were all schooled in the same set-up. More recent graduates have included Burnley pair Ben Mee and Kieran Trippier, while the jewel in the crown was surely England striker Daniel Sturridge.

Perhaps had City provided Sturridge with greater first-team opportunities they may still be owners of a world-class striker.

Nowadays, the search for talent extends beyond traditional boundaries and City’s up-and-coming prospects are no different.

However, Emyr Huws is pretty local as it goes these days – Llanelli! However, the 20-year-old former Swansea apprentice looks to be going all the way in his career.

Huws spent last season on loan at Birmingham City – scoring a memorable goal at Middlesbrough – and playing in the Blues’ dramatic end-of-season 2-2 draw at Bolton that secured Championship survival.

And March 5 was a red letter day in his career as he won his first Welsh senior cap against Iceland. For City, Huws was an unused substitute in their Champions League game against Viktoria Plzen last November and came off the bench for the FA Cup third-round replay win over Blackburn.

John Guidetti has been tipped for big things but a spell at Stoke proved frustrating and Bolton have denied recent links of another loan move for the Swedish striker. Guidetti, however, was a big hit in Dutch football with Feyenoord, so he has something about him.

But with Sergio Aguero, Stevan Jovetic, Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo in front of him, Guidetti will probably again have to wait for his break.

So, who else could step up to the mark? They don’t come much more highly thought of at the Etihad than Under-19 captain Marco Lopes, who arrived from Benfica for £790,000. Still only 18, the Brazilian-born, Portuguese-raised starlet became City’s all-time youngest scorer when he netted against Watford in the FA Cup aged 17 years and eight days.

Jose Angel Pozo was described as one of Europe’s hottest properties when he signed from Real Madrid with a big reputation and a big transfer fee – a reported £2.4m – in 2012. He has showed his class with a bagful of goals for the Under-21 side.

Like Guidetti, Karim Rekik went to Holland in search of regular first-team football and settled in superbly with PSV Eindhoven.

But, having blossomed in his native Holland, the 19-year-old has demanded he gets regular game time with Manuel Pellegrini’s side.